Most waiters and waitresses don’t dream of doing the job forever. Being a ‘plate juggler’ or garçon is hard work and can be thankless. Difficult customers, unsociable hours and staying on your feet all day, or night, takes a heavy toll. But there is a reason why people choose to do the job: the flexibility of waiting tables makes the job work for many people.
Labour’s Employment Rights Act will give workers on zero-hours and low-hours contracts the right to guaranteed hours and compensation when shifts are changed at short notice
In my twenty years working in, and eventually owning, restaurants, I’ve met – and employed – actors who need to attend an audition at the drop of a hat; parents juggling childcare; and, rarer still, someone on the cusp of retirement who doesn’t quite have enough of a pension and wants to wait tables to make up the shortfall. Put simply, these people work when they want to and don’t work when they don’t want to.
The benefits of this flexibility works both ways: restaurants often need an extra pair of hands at Christmas, or holiday cover in August. Like a game of Tetris, each person’s needs is made to fit the rota: Ant wants less this week, so Bea picks up Tuesday lunch. We discuss it, the rota is done and, barring sickness or storms, it holds.
